The Quality of Aid Statistics What We Should Be Measuring, and Why We Don’t

Measuring the size of international development aid is no easy matter. All sorts of definitional and statistical issues arise, and there are inevitably grey areas surrounding a concept that is so politically and normatively charged. This paper proposes a coherent framework for alternative aid measures. Against this background the statistics on aid published annually by the OECD are being assessed. The analysis focuses on three categories of aid: technical assistance, soft loans and debt relief. It is argued that lack of rigour and consistency considerably weaken the relevance of aid statistics for policy makers and researchers.